PoE Forbidden Sanctum 3.25
PoE 3.24: Existing Forbidden Sanctums that award Awakened Sextants will award Veiled Scarabs on completion.
3.22.1d Patch Notes
This patch contains a handful of quality of life changes for The Forbidden Sanctum.
- Added a Relic Locker next to Divinia at the entrance of The Forbidden Sanctum.
- Pressing Ctrl + Click on Divinia at the entrance to The Forbidden Sanctum now brings up the Sell Items interface.
- The "Close All User Interface" hotkey can now be used to skip to the next Sanctum notification.
- The "League Interface" and "League Panel" hotkeys can now be used to open the Map in The Forbidden Sanctum.
The Forbidden Sanctum 3.22
The Forbidden Sanctum will be returned in the new season. Itemised Sanctums.
- The Forbidden Sanctum has been added to the core game. You'll initially meet Divinia in the Oriath Docks in Act 10, who provides you with access to the Forbidden Sanctum.
- The Forbidden Sanctum has a maximum Area Level of 83.
- Introduced Forbidden Tomes, which are tradeable items that are found in the end game. A Forbidden Tome represents the entire first floor of the Forbidden Sanctum, and its rooms can be played back to back.
- Upon successfully completing a Sanctum floor, the next floor is generated as a tradable item with the state of your Sanctum built in, including your Boons, Afflictions, Resolve, Relics and Aureus.
- Relics have also returned and are now tradeable. They are locked in at the beginning of the first Sanctum floor, and cannot be changed for the remainder of the Sanctum run.
- Completing a Forbidden Sanctum run now requires killing Lycia in both her first and second form. She will always drop a Unique Relic, which have also been reworked and replaced as we rebalanced the Forbidden Sanctum.
- Primary defences now have some effect on protecting your Resolve. Armour provides Resolve Mitigation from Enemy Hits, Evasion grants a chance to Avoid Resolve loss from Enemy Hits, while Energy Shield provides you with Resolve Aegis, which is a mechanic that behaves similarly to how Energy Shield behaves for Life.
- The difficulty of Forbidden Sanctum has been increased, especially in the later floors. Monsters generally have more Life, and deal slightly more Resolve damage.
- Rare Monsters can now be found within the Forbidden Sanctum, and completing a room now requires killing all Rare Monsters present.
- Monsters in the Forbidden Sanctum are immune to damage if there is no player within 100 units of them.
- Boons and Afflictions have been reviewed and rebalanced, and we've also added new Boons and Afflictions themed around the new defensive mechanics.
- The Rusted Mallet minor Affliction that causes Monsters to have Knockback has been removed.
- Relic modifiers have also been reviewed and rebalanced. We've also added new Relic modifiers for the new defensive mechanics.
- We've also added more hazards and room variety to the Forbidden Sanctum.
- The Forbidden Sanctum has also been adjusted for Ruthless.
After meeting Divinia in Act 10, you'll find Sanctum items while playing maps in the endgame. These tradeable items each represent a whole floor of the Sanctum. Upon successfully completing that Sanctum floor, the next floor is generated as a tradeable item, with all your Boons, Afflictions and Resolve states built-in.
GGG has rebalanced The Forbidden Sanctum to provide more variety in the mechanics and monsters you encounter. Relics have also been rebalanced and are now tradeable. Most notably, your primary character defences are now able to protect your resolve.
- Armor grants a % Resolve Mitigation from enemy hits and scales with your armor.
- Evasion now grants a chance to avoid Resolve loss entirely.
- Energy Shield grants Energy Aegis which acts just like Energy Shield does for Life.
For example, Lustrous Lacquer grants 50% more Defences.
In light of the new defensive opportunities and learnings from the original challenge league, GGG has rebalanced the difficulty of the sanctum, especially in later floors and has worked to add more monster and room variety to runs.
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Forbidden Tome 3.22
A Forbidden Tome represents a floor of a Sanctum, when a floor is complete the next floor is generated as a tradable item that keeps all your progress, Resolve, Boons & Afflictions. You can choose to play your Sanctum or Trade it away depending on the rewards or dangers ahead.
Take this Forbidden Tome to Divinia.
| Name | Icon | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Forbidden Tome |  |
|
Sanctum Research 3.22
Sanctum Research is a category of item that can be inserted into the Relic Altar to access the Sanctum floor of the Forbidden Sanctum. It is obtained by completing the previous floor in the Sanctum.
Sanctum Research includes:
- Sanctum Archives Research
- Sanctum Vaults Research
- Sanctum Cathedral Research
- Sanctum Necropolis Research
Upon successfully completing that sanctum floor, the next floor is generated as a tradable item with all of the state of your sanctum run built-in. This means that the item stores what Boons and afflictions you had, what rewards you've locked in, and how much resolve you have left. You can then either play this floor or trade it to someone else if it feels more beneficial.
For example, let's say you manage to lock in a really valuable reward. The example here is a Mirror of Kalandra. This is an example here where the player has a very good reward locked in, but a massive pile of dangerous afflictions and only one resolve on them. If you don't feel capable of completing the rest of the sanction from this point, then it would normally be a write-off. You can now trade the sanctum state to someone else who is willing to pay for the chance to earn the Mirror or lose it.
Relics
Your relics which act as passive bonuses within the sanctum are locked in for the run when you start the first floor and can't be changed for the rest of the run.
Relics are now tradable and have been rebalanced around this. Sanctified Relics have not returned yet but may in the future and Unique Relics have been reworked and replaced as well.
A complete Sanctum run requires you to kill the final boss in both her first form Lycia, Unholy Herald and her second form Lycia, Herald of the Scourge. She will always drop a unique Relic and these have been reworked and replaced as GGG rebalanced everything.
Example: Revitalising Processional Relic of the Pixie
| Name | Icon | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Revitalising Processional Relic of the Pixie |  |
How to use: Place this item on the Relic Altar at the start of each Sanctum run. |
New Boons and afflictions
Added new Boons and afflictions themed around the new defensive mechanics. Also rebalanced many of the other ones. Example:
| Name | Category | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Lustrous Lacquer | Major Boon |
|
| Corrosive Concoction | Major Affliction |
|
The Broken Censer Tome Relic 3.22
| Icon | Description |
|---|---|
 |
The Broken Censer is a unique Tome Relic. Category: Relic.
Flavour Text: “His followers were too small in number to spark divinity, so he turned to a greater power: hatred. He vilified his brother, sparking zealotry, and the change finally began.” – Lycia, The Heretic Place this item on the Relic Altar at the start of each Sanctum run |
The Forbidden Sanctum Challenge League
In Path of Exile: The Forbidden Sanctum, you will test your resolve as you make your way through the Sanctum's dangerous halls. In the Sanctum, each decision you make can cost you greatly.
The December expansion introduces the Sanctum challenge league and improvements to Path of Exile's endgame, alongside two new Skill Gems, seven new Vaal Skill Gems, over 15 new Unique Items, significant balance changes to jewels, hexes, monster modifiers, unique weapons and more. We are also proud to introduce Ruthless, an optional new way to play Path of Exile with extreme item scarcity.
- Challenge leagues are a great opportunity for a fresh start in a new economy. All of your old characters and items are still present in the Standard and Hardcore leagues, but you're encouraged to join the new leagues, complete challenges and demonstrate your mastery of Path of Exile!
- The Forbidden Sanctum is a roguelike that takes place within Path of Exile. You will explore the Templars' sanctum which is rumored to be hidden beneath the Fellshrine Ruins. Long abandoned, a malevolent presence has taken hold. In each area of Wraeclast you play through, you will have the opportunity to explore one room of the Sanctum as you search for its treasures.
- With 3.20.0, there are Standard, Hardcore, Solo Self-Found and Ruthless variations of the Sanctum challenge league available. They have the same core mechanics and items. You can create private league versions of these leagues, with mods that make the game harder.
- The new challenge league includes a set of 40 new challenges, with microtransaction rewards for completing challenges. These rewards are only obtainable in this league.
The Forbidden Sanctum League Mechanic
Upon entering the Sanctum, you'll uncover a map that reveals a few of the rooms ahead of you. Sparse details of the room and its rewards are shown, so you must plan carefully as each mistake will dwindle your resolve. When your resolve runs out, your Sanctum run ends. Each time you enter the Sanctum, you will seek to push yourself farther than before through its four floors.
The Sanctum's rooms hold many secrets. Some contain ancient fountains you can rest at to restore a portion of your resolve. Others will curse you with an affliction, hindering your progress. These afflictions stack up as you explore deeper and deeper within the Sanctum. You can also receive boons, blessings that help you overcome the Sanctum's dangers. Each time you enter the Sanctum, you will encounter a unique layout that you must assess and adapt to as you explore.
Inside the Sanctum, you will find gold coins called Aureus, a currency that the Templar used for commerce. It's stored in treasure chests and falls from slain monsters. Although these coins belong to the Sanctum and will not leave with you, they can be traded with a merchant who you may encounter from time to time. Spend your Aureus wisely as it can be used to purchase a crucial boon when the time is right.
The sinister powers controlling the Sanctum will occasionally present you with an Accursed Pact. These pacts offer you a powerful benefit with a dangerous cost. Although the Pact will tempt you greatly, you must choose with care. The result of your choice could signal the end of your time in the Sanctum or be the turning point in your success.
Many rooms in the Sanctum will offer you a choice of currency items. You can take the reward now or leave it behind, with the promise of an even larger reward later. Deferring your reward to the end of the current floor or even the end of the entire Sanctum escalates it with great risk. If you run out of resolve before reaching this goal, you lose everything you gambled. Do you believe in yourself enough to take the risk and potentially reap a massive reward? Or do you play it safe and leave with what you have?
As you explore the Sanctum, you'll discover a special altar that Templar Relics can be placed on. These relics make you more powerful in the Sanctum and persist from run to run. Their continued power is the key to making it deeper into the Sanctum's vaults each time you enter. As you accumulate more relics, you'll need to make decisions around which ones most benefit you and arrange the Altar accordingly.
You may also uncover Sanctified Relics, a very rare type that directly affects your character's build. You may use only one of these, but its benefits stay with you beyond the Sanctum walls and bestow the Templars' power on you as you journey through Wraeclast.
The Forbidden Sanctum is home to many bosses, including random miniboss encounters, bosses at the end of each floor and an ultimate showdown against the entity that controls the Sanctum. These fights yield valuable rewards including Relics, piles of Aureus coins, masses of experience, new Unique Items and more.
Forbidden Sanctum Guide
1. Dare to Enter
In this league, you'll discover The Forbidden Sanctum, an ancient Templar enclave hidden beneath the Fellshrine Ruins. Abandoned for a long time, it is now controlled by a malevolent entity. You must explore it, uncover its secrets, and deal with the evil that lurks within. |
|
Enter the Forbidden Sanctum.
2. Test Your Resolve
Upon entering the Sanctum, you'll uncover a map that reveals a few of the rooms ahead of you. Sparse details of the room and its rewards are shown, so you must plan carefully as each mistake will dwindle your resolve.
When your resolve runs out, your Sanctum run ends. Each time you enter the Sanctum, you will seek to push yourself farther than before through its four floors.
3. Explore The Forbidden Sanctum
4. Adapt or Die
The Sanctum's rooms hold many secrets. Some contain ancient fountains you can rest at to restore a portion of your resolve.
Others will curse you with an affliction, hindering your progress. These afflictions stack up as you explore deeper and deeper within the Sanctum. You can also receive boons, blessings that help you overcome the Sanctum's dangers. Each time you enter the Sanctum, you will encounter a unique layout that you must assess and adapt to as you explore.
5. Pay the Price
Inside the Sanctum, you will find gold coins called Aureus, a currency that the Templar used for commerce. It's stored in treasure chests and falls from slain monsters. Although these coins belong to the Sanctum and will not leave with you, they can be traded with a merchant who you may encounter from time to time. Spend your Aureus wisely as it can be used to purchase a crucial boon when the time is right.
6. Bet your life
The sinister powers controlling the Sanctum will occasionally present you with an Accursed Pact. These pacts offer you a powerful benefit with a dangerous cost. Although the Pact will tempt you greatly, you must choose with care. The result of your choice could signal the end of your time in the Sanctum or be the turning point in your success.
7. Reep or Weep
Many rooms in the Sanctum will offer you a choice of currency items. You can take the reward now or leave it behind, with the promise of an even larger reward later. Deferring your reward to the end of the current floor or even the end of the entire Sanctum escalates it with great risk. If you run out of resolve before reaching this goal, you lose everything you gambled. Do you believe in yourself enough to take the risk and potentially reap a massive reward? Or do you play it safe and leave with what you have?
8. Uncover Templar Relics
As you explore the Sanctum, you'll discover a special altar that Templar Relics can be placed on. These relics make you more powerful in the Sanctum and persist from run to run. Their continued power is the key to making it deeper into the Sanctum's vaults each time you enter. As you accumulate more relics, you'll need to make decisions around which ones most benefit you and arrange the Altar accordingly.
You may also uncover Sanctified Relics, a very rare type that directly affects your character's build. You may use only one of these, but its benefits stay with you beyond the Sanctum walls and bestow the Templars' power on you as you journey through Wraeclast.
9. Defeat the Sanctum's Guardians
The Forbidden Sanctum is home to many bosses, including random miniboss encounters, bosses at the end of each floor and an ultimate showdown against the entity that controls the Sanctum. These fights yield valuable rewards including Relics, piles of Aureus coins, masses of experience, new Unique Items and more.
FAQs
Can we have a way to accumulate Sanctum rooms and attempt them back-to-back?
Yes, you can accumulate up to eight rooms (the size of a full Sanctum floor) before running some or all of them at once.
How hard are the Sanctum mechanics for melee builds?
Your resolve is impacted less by attacks that you're close to, so melee characters can have an easier time.
What happens if I crash while in The Forbidden Sanctum?
When you play your next map you'll be able to replay the same room you were up to. Aureus coins and rewards are only locked in upon successful completion of a room.
Do Sanctified Relics affect my character outside of the Sanctum?
Yes, the benefits of Sanctified Relics affect you everywhere.
How rare are Sanctified Relics? Will I only see one throughout my playthrough of the league?
As you start to master the Sanctum at high levels, you'll accumulate more Sanctified Relics to pick between when trying to find the perfect one for your build.
Is the Relic Altar shared between your characters or per character?
They're shared between your characters within a league. However, if you're currently using a relic in a Sanctum run on one character, it can't be moved until the run ends.
Is your Sanctum run shared between characters? i.e. can you run different rooms of your run with different characters?
Each of your characters has its own Sanctum runs and progress within them.
Why haven't you nerfed Seismic Trap?
We have nerfed Seismic Trap several times this year. We understand that competitive players would like Seismic Trap to be nerfed yet again so they don't feel obligated to play with it for ladder pushing. Outside of this context, it doesn't appear to be used by an extremely large number of people (it's top twenty, but not meta-defining). We will investigate whether we can change it for situations that are relevant to racing but we can't promise anything yet.
When you reroll an Awakened Gem from one type to another with the new Beastcrafting recipe, will it keep its experience level?
When you roll an Awakened Gem to another type, it will keep its level and experience but different gems have different experience values per level so they may not be exactly the same. But essentially, if you start with an Awakened Gem at Level 2 with 50% experience and roll it to another one, it will be Level 2 with 50% experience.
Two new Masteries have taken their place. The first provides “You take 40% reduced Extra Damage from Critical Strikes by Cursed Enemies”, while the second provides “Recover 1% of Life when you Curse a Non-Cursed enemy” and “Recover 1% of Mana when you Curse a Non-Cursed enemy.” Do these recovery stats work with blasphemied curses as well?
Recovery stats don't work with Blasphemy.
The Tribal Fury Notable Passive Skill no longer has “Strike Skills target 1 additional nearby Enemy”. It now has “Melee Strike Skills deal Splash Damage to surrounding targets”. Does that apply to the melee of Dominating Blow minions?
No
With Survival Secrets jewel now removed, will its effects “Flasks applied to you have 20% reduced Effect” and/or “Flasks gain 3 Charges every 3 seconds while they are inactive” be available anywhere else in-game?
No, but we'll look into ways to bring this back in the future in some form.
Do you have any plans to restore the effects of Replica Conqueror's Efficiency, Replica Hotheaded and Lord of Steel?
No, we don't see these effects as necessary to retain. However, we do understand that some players are very interested in them so we will consider them when developing future content though.
Can we have colour-coded monster mods back?
We are looking into it and are keen for your suggestions/feedback on the readability of monster mods.
Can you confirm how many modifiers rare monsters will have?
We are balancing around having between 2 and 4 mods per rare monster.
Why won't challenges be enabled in Ruthless?
Because 3.20 is a beta of Ruthless, and we're still building the fundamentals of the mode, we needed to have developed challenges well in advance, which was difficult to do with the fundamentals of the mode still being worked on. We currently intend on having challenges available from 3.21 onwards.
Are we allowed to know if Atziri's Disfavor was moved back to Uber Atziri?
Yes, it has been moved back to Uber Atziri. Pledge of Hands has moved from Uber Atziri to regular Atziri.
Does the “Gain additional Elemental Damage Reduction equal to half your Chaos Resistance” mod on Eternal Damnation reduce the damage you take from elemental damage over time effects?
Yes
Does using a Fracturing Orb also reroll the mods on an item?
No
If the way socketing/linking items is changing in Path of Exile 2, what will happen to the Ethereal Fusing Effect?
It's too early to make promises for how Path of Exile 2 works, but our goal is to make sure that microtransactions are updated to be as compatible as possible.
Will there be a boss kill event at launch?
Not for this league.
When will we see 20/20 gems?
We are aiming for as early as Tuesday (NZ) but may be as late as Thursday. We'll keep you updated as things become finalised.
PoE Sanctum 3.20 End Date
The End date of PoE Sanctum is April 4, 2023. The release date of PoE 3.21 is about April 7, 2023. GGG is currently planning to launch the Path of Exile 3.21 expansion in early April. You may note that this means that The Forbidden Sanctum challenge league will be longer than normal. GGG is currently tinkering with a few ideas for some fun low-key things GGG can do in the final month before the 3.21 launches and will let you know how those ideas shake out in the coming weeks.
| Date | Description |
|---|---|
| April 4, 2023 |
|
We are extending the Sanctum league until April 4. Sanctum has been a really popular league, and we're happy to run it for a bit longer so that you can keep perfecting your builds and finish your challenges.
3.20.2d Patch Notes
- This is the end of the Sanctum League. Your characters and their progress will be migrated over the next few hours following the patch, or you can use the migration options in the character selection menu. Thanks for playing!
- You can now create Private Leagues for the Crucible League, ahead of the league's launch on April 7. These leagues will not begin until the Crucible League launches.
- You can now create characters in Ruthless Permanent Leagues.
- Relics and Lycia's Invocations will be deleted upon logging in.
- After this patch, local cached assets will be cleaned up upon launching the client, in preparation of the upcoming league launch.
Will the Sanctum League go Core?
While Sanctum won't be going core in the next expansion, we do really like this mechanic and the way it challenges Path of Exile players. We loved watching your Sanctum runs and the best relics you found. We definitely want to find a way to integrate it into Path of Exile.
There are a number of improvements we need to make to Sanctum before it can have a permanent place in Path of Exile. It needs a general rebalance, could benefit from more content, and needs to be integrated into your gameplay loop in a way that lets players specialise in it if they want to, but doesn't force it on players who prefer the base game. We'd also need to work out how Relics would work.
We're working on a lot of stuff for 3.21 at the moment so we haven't included the Sanctum rework in its scope. But it's hopefully something we can look forward to in the coming leagues.
When the current league ends in early April, all of your existing relics and invocations will be deleted. If you have any Sanctum challenges to complete, you still have several weeks to do so.
Thanks to everyone who is enjoying Sanctum!
3.20.2 Improvements and updates
- dded support for party members to go offline while staying in the party. When you log out, you can now stay in your party, though you can still be kicked from the party while offline. After you've been offline for 2 minutes, you will be automatically kicked from the party.
- Added "Kick from Party" back to the options available when right-clicking another player's message in chat.
- Added 845 more foiled Unique Item options that the Voidborn Reliquary can yield.
- Added an area description for the "twice blessed" Darkshrine outcome.
- The "Sacrifice a Corrupted Map. Create a new Corrupted Map of the same tier and rarity." Harvest crafting option now requires a Rare Corrupted Map to be sacrificed, and is no longer able to incorrectly create a new Corrupted Map of a higher tier.
- Some Sanctum monsters can now be Spectred, and Spectred versions of Stalking Geist will now be able to attack enemies. Lowered the resistances and maximum attack distance of the Spectred version of Igneous Gargoyle.
- It is now possible to view your Voidborn Reliquary submission on the website, and withdraw it for modification if it has not yet been confirmed.
- Updated the description of the Corrupted Gaze Atlas Notable Passive to clarify that it only applies to Abyss Jewels dropped by Abyssal Troves in your Maps.
- Updated descriptions for skills which grant critical strike chance through a buff, such as Precision and Aspect of the Cat.
- Updated the description on Galvanic Field when supported by Increased Critical Strike Chance to be more clear.
- Updated the targeting behaviour for Whirling Blades in Controller Input mode to target monsters rather than location.
- The Solar Map Device microtransaction now has variations that can be scrolled through to set the maximum tier of effects to play while map portals are open.
Sanctum changes 3.20.1b Patch Notes
- The Death Toll Major Affliction no longer causes monsters to drop no Aureus Coins. Instead, it now causes you to Lose 250 Resolve after completing 8 rooms. This change does not affect existing Sanctum runs.
- Herald of the Scourge's lightning waves skill now spawns more lightning bolts with each wave, though the lightning bolts are now smaller. The delay between each wave has been slightly increased, and the damage of the skill has been lowered by 20%.
- Improved the visibility of the ground degen effect when fighting Lycia, Unholy Heretic.
- Added an error message for attempting to change your Relics while you have an active Sanctum.
- Introduced the Voidborn Reliquary Key. The Voidborn Reliquary currently has 1231 options for foiled Unique items that it can yield. We are still working through the list of submissions from Voidborn Supporters to get the others in as soon as possible.
- Improved the description of the Sandstorm Visage Unique stat to clarify it only modifies spell critical strike chance of spells, and will not affect spells dealing non-spell damage (such as heralds).
- Updated various descriptions to clarify which stats only apply to Summon Skeletons, and which apply also to Vaal Summon Skeletons (such as the modifier on Alberon's Warpath). Melee Skeletons from the Vaal Summon Skeletons are now referred to as "Soldiers" rather than "Warriors" in descriptions.
- The visual effect applied to monsters with modifiers that cause Minions to Fire, Cold, or Lightning Explode on Death has been removed as it caused visual issues in some circumstances.
- Betrayal crafts that reroll socket numbers, links or colours a certain number of times can no longer be used on items with fixed socket numbers, links or colours respectively.
- The "Geared Up" achievement no longer requires a Rare or Unique item in the Relic slot.
PoE 3.20 Expansion Name: The Forbidden Sanctum
Eldritch Altars
In the Forbidden Sanctum expansion, we're making a number of changes to Eldritch Altars, specifically to their rewards, the monster packs they spawn and the incentives for rushing to map bosses before completing the rest of the map. In addition, we are adding a chance for Maven-witnessed Map Bosses to drop an Awakened Gem (inclusive of the Awakened Gems that are typically exclusive to Maven herself). The overarching aim of these changes is to try to reach a point where the choice between running Maven-witnessed Maps or Eldritch Influence Maps is closer in value while still retaining the gameplay feeling you've come to expect from Eldritch Altars.
- Altars no longer offer some reward types like gems, influenced items, unique items or maps.
- The "Basic Currency" reward has been split up into specific currency rewards. For example, they now have "Map Boss Drops Three Vaal Orbs" instead of "Map Boss Drops Three Basic Currency Items".
- Altars no longer offer some basic rewards like Orbs of Augmentation, Orbs of Transmutation, Blacksmith's Whetstones, Armourer Scraps etc.
- Currency drop weights are still adhered to for these rewards so with the removal of basic rewards, you'll see good currency a lot more often.
- Scarabs and Divination Cards have also been split into specific rewards. For example, rather than simply "Divination Cards", you'll now see things like "Divination Cards which reward Unique Jewellery".
- These specific rewards will be split so that they're exclusive to one Altar type, to allow target farming of these rewards.
- Scarabs are offered a lot less from Altars, but we don't want them to be too scarce as a whole. To help balance this out, we're adding Rusted Scarabs to the core drop pool.
- We're also adding a vendor recipe that can be used to upgrade Scarabs between tiers using the usual 3:1 ratio (up to Gilded Scarabs). We are also adding an 'Upgrade' button in the Fragment Stash Tab that can upgrade your Scarabs, like the one in the Essence tab.
- The amount of Influence Packs spawned by Altars has been reduced by 33% but the chance of Influence Altars spawning has been increased by 50% to offset this.
- We are making changes so that Altar choices that affect Boss Drops or Influenced Monster Drops are comparably valuable.
- We've redesigned the Wrath of the Cosmos keystone.
- We've changed the Wrath of the Cosmos and Eldritch Gaze keystones to only apply in maps affected by their respective influence.
- Not directly related to Altars, but related to the choice of what type of influence you run on your maps, we are adding a chance for Maven-witnessed Map Bosses to drop an Awakened Gem, inclusive of the Awakened Gems that are typically exclusive to Maven herself.
Monster Mods and Archnemesis
In The Forbidden Sanctum 3.20 expansion, Archnemesis will be replaced with a system that is more similar to the way monster mods worked in the past.
The issues that players often had with Archnemesis were:
- The keyworded mod names were not fully descriptive of what they did
- The mods often had multiple effects bundled which made them harder to understand
- Due to how many effects were included in a single mod, it made too many encounters too complex
- The way Archnemesis rewards were set up meant that many players felt like they couldn’t just kill a monster, they had to consider if they wanted to bring a magic find character in to maximise rewards
The goals of the new system are:
- Mods do one specific thing
- Mods say what they do rather than having a thematic name you must learn and remember
- Encounters are simplified on average while retaining interesting fights
- Players are no longer required to do annoying actions to maximise rewards
Jewels and Ailment
In Path of Exile: The Forbidden Sanctum 3.20 expansion, we’re making a number of balance changes that we’ll present over several balance manifestos that each cover an individual topic. We’re discussing changes to Jewels, most notably increasing their potential for ailment mitigation.
New Mode: Ruthless
Ruthless (previously codenamed “Hard Mode”) is an additional character creation flag alongside Hardcore and Solo Self-Found that allows you to opt-in to extreme item scarcity and various other changes.
| What Ruthless is not | What Ruthless is |
|---|---|
| Ruthless is not for everyone. If you don’t like the sound of it, then it’s probably best you continue playing the regular Path of Exile modes. It’s like Hardcore or Solo Self-found. Some players really enjoy the additional constraints as a way of enhancing their game experience. Many players do not, and that’s okay.
Ruthless is not a replacement for regular Path of Exile. It’s a challenging mode for a specific type of player. A change being made in Ruthless is not an indication that GGG will make that change in the regular game. In fact, if GGG felts a particular change was good for the regular game, it will just make it there to benefit everyone. Ruthless is not monetised any differently. You can play it for free and your existing microtransactions will work in it. Ruthless is not consuming significant development resources. It’s a pet project that some senior designers have been working on in their spare time over the last 18 months. |
Ruthless is a mode about friction, tension and anticipation. It’s brutally difficult, but overcoming that difficulty feels highly rewarding. In a world where your items are far below par, every item drop has the potential to be the breakthrough one you need.
Ruthless is a mode that re-imagines traditional understanding of where Path of Exile’s endgame is. It redefines the entire game as the endgame. Even reaching higher campaign acts, let alone maps, is an achievement. Traditionally weak items are suddenly very valuable. High level characters and good rare items infer immense bragging rights. Ruthless is a mode where you barely find any items. You might get to act four without equipping a pair of rings. But each ring you find represents a huge power boost. Ruthless is a mode where most items are normal rarity. You don’t see a lot of magic items, and even fewer rare items. But finding a rare item of a base type you’re looking for feels amazing. Ruthless is a mode where you find very little crafting currency. You might only find one Orb of Alchemy throughout the whole campaign. But that orb lets you convert any base type of your choice to a rare item. Ruthless is nostalgic. GGG picked the name partly because it was what the third of four difficulty levels was called back in closed beta. Aspects like item scarcity and support gems being valuable really feel like the early days of Path of Exile, just without desync. |
Item Scarcity
The core Ruthless experience is that you don’t have strong enough items to handle the content. Every item that drops has the potential to be an upgrade to your current gear.
- In Ruthless, the quantity of items dropped has been massively reduced throughout all game content.
- The rate of finding magic, rare and unique items has been massively reduced throughout all game content.
- Rings, Amulets and Belts are much rarer than in regular Path of Exile. They cannot be purchased from Vendors.
- Most league reward systems have been changed to only grant item rewards that are specific to that league (for example, Cluster Jewels only come from Delirium), plus items from the core drop pool. In Ruthless, getting items from the core drop pool is a valuable reward, especially when there is an item rarity bonus.
- Many deterministic items like Divination Cards or Oni-Goroshi cannot be obtained. Many bosses like Atziri that guarantee unique drops still do, but are often harder to access.
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